US-Middle East Tension: Causes and Consequences of Unresolved Conflict - Essay Sample

Introduction

Ever since the Cold War, there has been tension between the U.S. and the Middle East. U.S. Presidents have issued out policies and laws to address the situation. Glaring factors like geological, political, economic, socio-cultural differences have only deepened the rift between these two regions and any hopes of curbing the tension (Jones & Sage, 2010). From the selection of research articles relevant to this topic, there are clear reasons why this tension has completely skyrocketed, and a massive chunk of this can be tied to Iran's strategic geographical location, which is rich in oil reserves.

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Findings show that the U.S. policies and in extent, this conflict, have been molded by the natural features around the Middle East. The trail of our thesis as a group then centered upon the influence of Iran's topography on policies and sanctions put forward by the United States of America on two aspects, namely economically and socially (Jones & Sage, 2010). The scuffle between America and the Middle East, Iran, to be precise, is more than just a battle for political supremacy. It is a battle for resources that spans trivial factors that can make or break countries such as the economy and social structures (Jones & Sage, 2010).

The geographical features of the Middle Eastern nations have re-shaped the U.S policies towards Iran. Trump, in his presidency, has always applied socio-cultural geographical strategies to counter Iran's global ideologies and operation. In doing this, the U.S government embraced an economic perspective as it based its actions on the "neoliberal geopolitics," that is regulated by the worldwide economics (Sedghi, 2017). Iran geographical location is of strategic importance to America because it is rich in oil resources. Therefore, Trump intended to apply a capitalist ideology that required association with various Middle Eastern nations. The main issue with Iran is that the U.S government considers its economy as an open market for the Westerners. In the recent past, Trump's actions towards Iran have been alleged to be based on false grounds (Sedghi, 2017). The U.S is said to have been stage-managing liberalization as it associated with different Middle Eastern countries.

Trump's intervention with the Middle Eastern countries started when he showed economic interest in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Persian Gulf nations. These states are arrayed against Iran and so in doing this, Trump was targeting Iran through associating with its neighboring states. In both Saudi Arabia, and Israel, Trump wanted to build real estate and towers, and make some acquisitions. However, some of these plans were postponed. The U.S government have as well been trading partners with United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Bahrain. Trump even signed a military pact with Saudi Arabia to trade 110 billion dollars-worth of arms (Sedghi, 2017). All the undertakings of the U.S government towards other Middle Eastern countries is to oppose Iran's actions and policies towards global trade and military operations.

America's strategies towards Middle East regions have incorporated religious and sociological aspects. They have been exposing fearful images that connects Iran to terrorist acts. This move by the superpower is meant to undermine the Middle Eastern country's society. By using images that can instill fear in the Iranian Muslim populace, the U.S. is dividing the Iranian society into "us" and "others" (Roberts et al., 2003). A good example of this is the meta-narrative associated with Middle Eastern terrorist groups as religious fanatics following a strict code of conduct (Sedghi, 2017). The tension intensified, and this is because Iran is a country sitting on vast reserves of oil reserves that the United States of America seeks to get a hold of.

What is most interesting in this analysis is perhaps the fact that the U.S is interested in Iran because of oil. This makes this problem almost entirely economic. As a resource that is needed worldwide, even off-world in space explorations, oil is among the few commodities with the power to shift economies (Roberts et al., 2003). Its availability in Iran due to the region's hot and dry location possesses a threat to the U.S as a world superpower and as the most economically influential country in the world. This need to acquire Iran's oil reserves graduates this issue from mere politics into geopolitics. This is why strategies employed by the U.S are geopolitical (Sedghi, 2017). Even though there are several factors relevant to why the U.S has a keen interest in the Middle East, it would be foolish not to admit that their sole focus in the region is to commandeer this oil and to benefit from it. This oil holds the key to the country's economic potential.

It is thought-provoking than that through the many years, American presidents have endeavored to gain control of Iran and its surrounding environs through burrowing through its social structure to gain as much control as possible (Roberts et al., 2003). In his presidential campaign, Trump gave American citizens a promise to make America great again by relinquishing its global leadership duties so that it could focus on itself. He said he would move America's Embassy to Jerusalem from the city of Tel Aviv and tear up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal that the U.S signed back in 2015 aside world superpowers like China, Russia and the United Kingdom (Sedghi, 2017). Trump, in his first year of office, increased military support to Israel and brokered huge arms deals with Saudi Arabia. U.S military presence in Syria, Yemen, and Somalia also increased exponentially. The U.S, under Trump's initiative, supported Saudi Arabia's blockade against Qatar. The president then authorized a Tomahawk missile attack on Syria and ordered the air force bombardment of Afghanistan (Sedghi, 2017). This alone shows just how much the United States has focused on the Middle East society as a whole, controlling its states both directly and indirectly.

As a businessman and president of the most powerful country in the world Donald Trump understands the fact that Iran has become a competitor in the oil business against the U.S. To dampen its influence in the oil market, the U.S. has drilled down the chances of Iranian oil being bought on the global market by placing sanctions against the Middle Eastern state (Jones & Sage, 2010). These sanctions have introduced low oil prices globally, and this has protected the U.S from being affected negatively. Iran cannot export oil, and thus, the U.S. remains the primary global supplier of oil.

It is crucial to understand that international and domestic policies are dynamic (Jones & Sage, 2010). They change rapidly daily. Geopolitically speaking, the U.S. has fashioned this idea of the Iranian threat being among the main reasons why civilization might not live to see the next century. What they call the Iranian threat is simply a country defending its industrial and social heritage (Sedghi, 2017). Several questions must be answered in this regard. Under Trump's promise of making America great again, how is his current militarization of the Middle East tying to his promised goals? If there truly is an Iranian threat, is it only political, or is it geopolitical?

Conclusion

Conclusively, it is clear the geographical position of the Middle East is endowed with oil. This is what has made countries like Iran targets to powerful countries like the U.S. The dry terrain and heat of the region are conducive for oil formation. This oil holds power to the world's hyper power. Iran has been named a threat as it will not relinquish its natural resources to the U.S. As a group, we subjectively concluded that this issue is more than merely political. It is geopolitical.

References

Jones, L., & Sage, D. (2010). New directions in critical geopolitics: an introduction. GeoJournal, 75(4), 315-325.

Roberts, S., & Secor, A. Matthew Sparke (2003), 'Neoliberal geopolitics'. Antipode, 35(5), 886-97.

Sedghi, H. (2017). Trumpism: The Geopolitics of the United States, the Middle East and Iran. Socialism and Democracy, 31(3), 82-93.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08854300.2017.1388039